Life is But a Dream
by Shadestriker27
Summary: "No...Sides'. Wake up, Sides'. Wake up. Sideswipe? SIDESWIPE!" Sunstreaker knew it was his fault. He should have paid better attention. Now Sideswipe was lost to him, to the world. Forever... Sideswipe would never get to see the beautiful painting he had made. But Sideswipe always said, "Always look forward, Sunny. If you look back, you might end up tripping." AU '07 Movie One-shot


**Life is But a Dream**

**_"Row, row, row your boat, _**

**_Gently down the stream,_**

**_Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,_**

**_Life is but a dream..."_**

* * *

_"Kill 'em! Kill 'em! Kill 'em! Kill 'em..." the crowd chanted._

_Sunstreaker thrust his hand in the air as an affirmative. __The roar of the crowd could be heard from miles away. _

_Sunstreaker was giving a full-fledged grin and Sideswipe was...just standing there. Sideswipe didn't want to fight anymore, but Sunstreaker did. He insisted on fighting this one last time._

_Sideswipe's only reply had been, "This will be our last fight, Sunny. Our last fight."_

_Sunstreaker had promised his brother that they would quit after this one last fight. And Sideswipe had just said, "Ok." Nothing more, just an 'ok.' _

_Sunstreaker knew something was up but he just couldn't put his finger on it, so he had just let it slide for now._

_Then Sunstreaker asked for the crowd's permission, "Should I let him live or die?"_

_"Let him die! Let him die! Let him die!" The crowd chanted again._

_"You sure?" Sunstreaker asked again, taunting the crowd and their opponent. _

_"Yes!" The crowd roared back._

_Sunstreaker held his blade above his head and stared at his opponent who was withering on the ground. He brought the blade down and just as he was about to strike, he heard an energon-curdling scream._

_He looked behind him to only find a blade penetrate through Sideswipe's chest as he fell to the ground. _

_"You forgot about my twin did you not? This is what you get for your ignorance. You should've never messed with us." Deathwave croaked. His optics started to dim. It was only a matter of time before he died._

_"SIDESWIPE!" Sunstreaker screamed as he ran forward to catch his brother._

_"Sunny..." Sideswipe croaked._

_"Don't worry Sides', everything would be alright. You'll survive. You're strong, you can get through this. I promise, Sides. I-"_

_"Sunny. Y-You know as well as I do that...that I won't survive. Grow up and be a man, Sunny. This...this wasn't your fault and you know it. I should've paid better attention." Sideswipe tried to laugh, but ended up giving a hoarse, ragged cough. _

_"Sides', you'll be alright. Remember those knew blades you wanted, we'll get you you those as soon as you heal and then you can-"_

_"Cheer up, bro. Death isn't so bad as you think it may be. Besides, I'm not going to the Pit or anything. I'm way too charming for that. Just remember Sunny, never give up your love for painting. And no matter where you go, I'll always be with you. Right...right here." Sideswipe said as he motioned to the area where Sunstreaker's spark was._

_His optics started to dim. His spark started to flicker. _

_Then suddenly, it just stopped. Everything stopped._

_"No...Sides'. Wake up, Sides'. Wake up. Sideswipe? SIDESWIPE!"_

Sunstreaker jolted awake. If Cybertronians could sweat, he would be drenched in it right now.

_"This will be our last fight, Sunny. Our last."_

Only now he knew what it meant. Sideswipe knew this was gonna happen, and yet, he let it happen.

Ever since Sideswipe had died, Sunstreaker always had nightmares of his death. He couldn't just shake the memory from his head. No matter what he did, the memory was still there. Now don't get it wrong, Sunstreaker didn't want to forget Sideswipe. He just didn't want to be reminded of _how _Sideswipe died.

It was because of his carelessness, Sideswipe had died. If he had paid better attention then Sideswipe would have probably been here.

Sunstreaker just sat there, contemplating if he should go out for a drive or go back to sleep. Sunstreaker knew the latter was out of the question since he would just have the nightmare again.

He started to get up when a thought struck him.

_"...__Just remember Sunny, never give up your love for painting. And no matter where you go, I'll always be with you. Right here."_

Sunstreaker had decided. He was going to paint.

He got out a large blank canvas and his paints. He knew exactly what to paint.

A streak of red brushed the canvas. Next came yellow, then blue, then orange. Soon enough, while he was working, Sunstreaker found himself humming to the human nursery rhyme: Row, row, row your boat.

When Sunstreaker first crashed landed on Earth, the one thing that had him the most fascinated were human nursery rhymes. They held a deeper meaning behind them than just singing them for little kids. For instance, "Ring Around the Rosie" was about the Black Plague. Who knew a children's rhyme came from a deadly disease.

At last, Sunstreaker had finished what he was painting. He stood back and admired his work. It was a picture him and Sideswipe. They had their arms swung around each other's shoulder's and were smiling. In the background, there was an ocean, and if you squinted closely, you could see a small man rowing a boat. The sun was setting over the horizon, and the water was bathed into its reddish-orangish hue.

All in all, it was a work of art.

If Sideswipe was here, he'd slap Sunstreaker on the back and say, "Well done, Sunny. Well done."

Sunstreaker smiled at the thought.

...Yes. Life _is _but a dream...

* * *

**A/N: **I just got this idea. I was just wondering on what I should write, listening to music and then I was like, "Hey. What if I do a story about Row row row your boat?" And that's how this idea was born. Well actually, I remembered us talking about Ring Around the Rosie and how that came from the Black Plague in History and this idea was just...born.

Row, row, row your boat is a symbol. If you can figure out what it means, then you can figure out why Sunstreaker was humming it and why he painted that picture. :)

Please review as I would love to hear feedback from you guys on how this story was...what I should've done...etc.

It's just a little one-shot after Sunstreaker crash-landed on Earth without Sides and it was hard for him to adjust with out his twin...yada yada ya, you get the point. May or may not continue. Depends on my mood.


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